Herbert Stellman. Collection

Herbert Stellman was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on 27 August 1922 as the son of merchant Heinrich alias Henri Stellman (born on 24 December 1898 in Radom, Poland) and Lea Rubin (born on 20 April 1899 in Antwerp, Belgium). Herbert had a younger brother named Isidoor, who was born in Antwerp on 24 September 1925. Both boys as well as their mother held Belgian citizenship. The family lived at Lange Van Ruusbroeckstraat 58, in Antwerp. In May 1940, upon the invasion of Belgium by Nazi-Germany, the Stellman family tried to flee to France. While his parents and brother eventually returned to Antwerp, seventeen-year-old Herbert was able to reach Spain and Portugal. He eventually ended up in England where he joined the Brigade Piron. Herbert received military training and guarded the English before landing on the French beaches as a member of the fourth Assault Peloton of the second Motorized Company, which participated in the campaign to liberate France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Upon his return to Antwerp in September 1944, Herbert learned that his parents and brother had not survived the war. On 14 August 1942 Herbert’s father Henri Stellman and Herbert’s paternal uncle Leizer Stellman had been deported to the Organisation Todt labour camp in Boulogne-sur-Mer in Northern France where over 2250 Jewish men from Belgium were forced to build the Atlantic Wall. Herbert’s uncle Leizer was able to escape from the labour camp and survived the war, but Herbert’s father was deported from Northern France to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XVII on 31 October 1942 and was murdered. Herbert’s mother Lea Rubin and Herbert’s brother Isidoor Stellman, together with Herbert’s maternal aunt Helena Rubin, were arrested during the raid on Jews with Belgian nationality (Aktion Iltis) which took place during the night of 3 on 4 September 1943. All three of them were deported from the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks) to Auschwitz-Birkenau via transport XXIIB on 20 September 1943 and were murdered. After the war, Herbert Stellman married Anna Weinstock. The couple had two children of whom one was named Henri in honour of Herbert’s father. Herbert received several medals and awards for his military service during the war. He passed away in 2008.

On several occasions Herbert and Anna Stellman-Weinstock kindly permitted the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance, predecessor of Kazerne Dossin, to digitise documents and photos from their family archive: A000457 to A000460 on 20 March 1995, P000791 and T000049 on 23 March 1995 and P002759 to P002761 on 16 March 2003. They also donated two original items to the museum: P001743 on 24 July 1997 and A008967 on 18 June 2004. Herbert and Anna’s son Henri Stellman donated an original photo (P002008) on 11 December 1998, which was also added to the family collection.

Herbert and Anna Stellman-Weinstock, 1995-2004, and their son Henri Stellman, 1998